Systems and methods for switching from a non-linear service to a linear service

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided herein for receiving a request from a user to access a video that is scheduled for transmission, simultaneously to a plurality of users, beginning from a scheduled start time. The request is received after the scheduled start time the transmission is performed by a linear service to which the user subscribes. In response to receiving the request, the systems and methods may generate for display the video to the user, and may receive, during display of the video, a command from the user to start playback of the video over from the beginning. In response to receiving the command, the systems and methods may identify a non-linear service to which the user subscribes that offers a non-linear copy of the video, and may play back the non-linear copy of the video from the beginning.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/441,897, filed Jan. 3, 2017, currently pending, thedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

In the related art, linear services (e.g., cable television programproviders) that provide scheduled programming sometimes offer a user anability to restart a program if the user tunes to that program after itsstart time. The related art generally offers this option by recordingthe program at a server when the start time of the program begins andtransmitting the missed, recorded portion to the user upon request, orby transmitting to the user an on-demand copy of the program uponreceipt of a restart request. The related art, however, is limited tothe same linear service providing both the scheduled programming and therestart copy. Thus, if the linear service does not have a restart copyavailable, no restart option will be available to the user.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods are provided herein for enabling a user to startplayback of a scheduled video over when a first service to which theuser subscribes does not offer an option to the user to start playbackof the video over from a beginning of the video. As an illustrativeexample, when a broadcast television provider does not offer an optionto restart a television program, the media guidance application maydetermine whether other non-linear services, such as the video streamingservices Netflix and Hulu, offer the program to their subscribers. Inthe event that these services offer the program to their subscribers,and the user subscribes to at least one of these services, the mediaguidance application may provide a restart option to the user.

To this end and others, in some aspects of the disclosure, the mediaguidance application may receive a request from a user to access a videothat is scheduled for transmission, simultaneously to a plurality ofusers, beginning from a scheduled start time, where the request isreceived after the scheduled start time, and where the transmission isperformed by a linear service to which the user subscribes. For example,the media guidance application may receive a selection of a program on atelevision schedule guide for a program whose broadcast has alreadybegun.

In some embodiments, in response to receiving the request, the mediaguidance application may generate for display, based on thetransmission, the video to the user. For example, the media guidanceapplication may tune to the channel on which the program is broadcast,and may thereby generate for display the program for display to theuser.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive, duringdisplay of the video, a command from the user to start playback of thevideo over from the beginning. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display a selectable option to restart theprogram. The command may be received by way of the media guidanceapplication detecting a selection of the selectable option.

In some embodiments, in response to receiving the command, the mediaguidance application may retrieve information of a profile of the user.For example, the media guidance application may access a user profileand retrieve therefrom information about which non-linear services theuser subscribes to. The media guidance application may determine, fromthe information, a plurality of non-linear services to which the usersubscribes, where the non-linear services provide non-linear contentover an Internet link.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application queries a databasecorresponding to each non-linear service of the plurality of non-linearservices to determine whether each non-linear service offers anon-linear copy of the video. For example, if the user subscribes to thevideo streaming services Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, the media guidanceapplication may query each of those video streaming services todetermine which ones, if any, offer a copy of the program for streamingto the user. As another example, the media guidance application mayingest catalogs for each non-linear service, based on the ingestion, themedia guidance application may add metadata to a data structurecorresponding to each media asset identifier for which the non-linearservice offers a corresponding media asset that indicates that thenon-linear service offers that media asset. The media guidanceapplication may query a database housing the data structure to determinewhether the non-linear services offers a non-linear copy of the video(or other media asset).

The media guidance application may determine, in response to thequerying, that a non-linear service of the plurality of non-linearservices offers the non-linear copy of the video. In response todetermining that the non-linear service offers the non-linear copy, themedia guidance application may play back the non-linear copy of thevideo from the beginning.

In some embodiments, in order to play back the non-linear copy of thevideo from the beginning, the media guidance application may launch aplatform corresponding to the non-linear service, where the platformcorresponding to the non-linear service is different from a platformcorresponding to the linear service that is used to generate for displaythe video using the linear service. For example, the media guidanceapplication may launch an application or website from which mediaoffered by the non-linear service is accessed. The media guidanceapplication may play back the non-linear copy of the video using theplatform corresponding to the non-linear service.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether playback of the non-linear copy of the video has terminated. Forexample, the media guidance application may monitor for an end ofplayback of the non-linear copy of the video (e.g., the runtime of thenon-linear copy of the video has completely elapsed), or may monitor fora command from the user to terminate playback of the non-linear copy ofthe video (e.g., a command that indicates playback should be stopped).In response to detecting the end of playback of the non-linear copy ofthe video, or detecting the command from the user to terminate playbackof the non-linear copy of the video, the media guidance application maydetermine that playback of the non-linear copy of the video hasterminated.

In some embodiments, in response to determining that playback of thenon-linear copy of the video has terminated, the media guidanceapplication may exit the platform corresponding to the non-linearservice and may resume generating for display video using the platformcorresponding to the linear service. For example, the media guidanceapplication may exit an application dedicated to the non-linear service,and may revert to whatever application was used to generate for displaythe video received by the linear service.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may automaticallydetermine, while the video is being generated for display using thetransmission of the linear service, and without receiving the command,that the non-linear service offers the non-linear copy of the video. Forexample, the media guidance application may monitor services to whichthe user subscribes each time the user tunes to a broadcast channel todetermine if a copy of a program on that broadcast channel is offered bya non-linear service to which the user subscribes. The media guidanceapplication may thus determine that there is a linear service that theuser subscribes to that offers the program.

In some embodiments, in response to the automatic determining, the mediaguidance application may automatically pre-cache the non-linear copy ofthe video at a cache local to the user. For example, the media guidanceapplication may automatically access the non-linear service and bufferthe program at the user equipment so that no buffer or download timewill be experienced by the user if the user wants to restart theprogram. In response to receiving the command, the media guidanceapplication may access the pre-cached non-linear copy of the video.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine, inresponse to the querying, that no non-linear service of the plurality ofnon-linear services to which the user subscribes offers the non-linearcopy of the video. In response to determining that no non-linear serviceof the plurality of non-linear services to which the user subscribesoffers the non-linear copy of the video, the media guidance applicationmay query a second plurality of non-linear services to which the userdoes not subscribe to determine whether a second non-linear service ofthe second plurality of non-linear services offers a second non-linearcopy of the program. For example, the media guidance application may gobeyond the non-linear services to which the user subscribes to determinewhether any known non-linear service offers a copy of the program. Inresponse to determining that the second non-linear service offers thesecond non-linear copy of the program, the media guidance applicationmay generate for display to the user a selectable option to subscribe tothe second non-linear service.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application, further in responseto determining that the second non-linear service offers the secondnon-linear copy of the program, may pre-cache the second non-linear copyof the program at a cache local to the user, and, in response toreceiving a selection of the selectable option to subscribe to thesecond non-linear service, may access the pre-cached second non-linearcopy of the program. Thus, in the event the user chooses to subscribe tothe second non-linear service, the non-linear copy of the video will beavailable to the user for immediate consumption without any time neededfor buffering or download.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay, in response to the querying, a menu indicating each non-linearservice to which the user subscribes that offers the copy of thenon-linear program. The media guidance application may receive a userselection from the menu of an indication corresponding to the non-linearservice, where the playing back the non-linear copy of the video fromthe beginning comprises playing back the non-linear copy of the videofrom the beginning in response to receiving the user selection. The menumay additionally indicate non-linear services to which the user does notsubscribe that offer the copy of the non-linear program.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the non-linear service provider offers a premium version of thenon-linear copy of the video. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the broadcast video was received in highdefinition, but the non-linear service provider offers, in addition to ahigh definition copy, a 4K copy of the video. In response to determiningthat the non-linear service provider offers the premium version, themedia guidance application may generate for display, during playback ofthe non-linear copy of the video, a selectable option for accessing thepremium version.

It should be noted the systems and/or methods described above may beapplied to, or used in accordance with, other systems, methods and/orapparatuses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a display screen being usedto play back a scheduled media asset, and including a selectable optionto restart the scheduled media asset using a non-linear media asset, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide media guidance application listings and other mediaguidance information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 3 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen thatmay be used to provide media guidance application listings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment (UE) devicein accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for enabling auser to restart a video provided by a linear service by playing back acopy of the video from a non-linear service to which the usersubscribes, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for launching aplatform to play back a non-linear copy of the program, and exiting theprogram when playback of the non-linear copy of the video is terminated,in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for accessing apre-cached copy of the video when a restart command is received, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for restarting avideo transmitted by a linear source when the linear source does notoffer a restart mechanism, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 depicts user equipment 100, which may be any user equipment, asdescribed below with respect to FIGS. 2-5 . A media guidance application(also described below with respect to FIGS. 2-5 ) generates for displaymedia asset 102 on user equipment 100. As depicted, media asset 102 isan episode of the television sitcom series titled “Seinfeld.” Mediaasset 102 is a linear media asset, and is transmitted to user equipment100 and other user equipment simultaneously from a scheduled start timeto a scheduled end time by a linear content source.

As used herein, the term “linear media asset” means a media asset thatis scheduled for simultaneous transmission to a plurality of mediaassets. Examples of linear media assets are broadcast televisionprograms, songs that are broadcast on the radio, videos or audio filesthat are simultaneously streamed from a linear content source to aplurality of user equipment, and the like. As used herein, the term“linear content provider” is a content provider that provides linearmedia assets. For example, service providers that provide access totelevision channels are linear content providers, as scheduled video istransmitted over those television channels. The term “content provider”is used interchangeably in this disclosure with “source,” “contentsource,” “service provider,” and the like, and such interchanged usecarries the same meaning as the defined meaning for the term “contentprovider.”

Indicator 104 indicates an amount of time elapsed in media asset 102.For example, if transmission of media asset 102 began by the linearsource at 5:00 pm, and it is now 5:08:22 pm, then indicator 104 mayindicate that eight minutes and twenty-two seconds have elapsed, or mayindicate a present time, or may indicate no time at all and instead useshading to show a proportion of the media asset. Indicator 104, like theother features of FIG. 1 , is optional and need not be displayed.

Restart option 106 is a selectable option for restarting media asset102. As will be described in further detail below, restart option 106need not restart an exact copy of media asset 102; instead, a selectionof restart option 106 may cause a non-linear copy of media asset 102(i.e., a copy of media asset 102 that is not scheduled for transmissionto a plurality of users at a pre-set time) to play back to the user.Menu 108 may optionally be displayed, and may indicate non-linearcontent providers from which a non-linear copy of media asset 102 may beobtained. The media guidance application may generate for displayrestart option 106 at any time during playback of media asset 102,including at a moment that the user requests playback of media asset102.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive arequest from a user to access media asset 102 after a scheduled starttime associated with media asset 102. For example, if the usersubscribes to a cable television provider, that cable televisionprovider acts as a linear content source of media asset 102. The mediaguidance application may receive the request from the user to accessmedia asset 102 by way of the user accessing a channel on which mediaasset 102 is transmitted, by way of the user selecting a media assetidentifier corresponding to media asset 102 from a program scheduleguide, and the like. There are many ways for the media guidanceapplication to receive a request from a user to access a linear mediaasset—for example, the linear media asset may be selected from a menu,listing, or the like (e.g., a media asset identifier may be selected ona website, which leads, upon selection, to a display of media asset102). The request may be made in any known manner, including verbally,by tactile interaction with a user interface, or any other manner. Othermanners in which a media guidance application receives requests from auser, and in which a user may request access to a media asset, aredescribed in further detail below with respect to FIGS. 2-5 , and thatdescription applies equally here.

In some embodiments, in response to receiving the request, the mediaguidance application may generate for display, based on thetransmission, the media asset to the user. Manners in which a mediaguidance application may output a media asset are described in furtherdetail below with respect to FIGS. 2-5 . Alternatively, if the mediaasset is an audio asset (e.g., a song or a radio show), the media assetmay be generated for output by a speaker by the media guidanceapplication. As depicted in FIG. 1 , in response to receiving a requestcorresponding to media asset 102 at user equipment 100, the mediaguidance application would generate for display media asset 102 on userequipment 100.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive, duringdisplay (or, e.g., audio output) of the media asset, a command from theuser to start playback of the media asset over from the beginning. Forexample, the media guidance application may generate for display restartoption 106. The command to start playback of the media asset over fromthe beginning may be received by the media guidance application by wayof detecting a selection of restart option 106. Restart option 106 maybe selected through any known manner of selection, such as voice input,manual selection by the user (e.g., tapping an icon corresponding torestart option 106), or any other manner of user input as describedbelow with reference to FIGS. 2-5 . Moreover, restart option 106 neednot be displayed for a user to input the command to start playback ofthe media over from the beginning.

In some embodiments, in response to receiving the command, the mediaguidance application may retrieve information of a profile of the user.For example, the media guidance application may access a database (e.g.,stored local to user equipment 100 or at a remote server, as describedbelow with reference to FIGS. 2-5 ) and retrieve a user profile from thedatabase. The media guidance application may determine, based oninformation of the retrieved user profile, which non-linear services theuser subscribes to. The information may be populated based on user inputthat indicates which services the user subscribes to. Thus, thedetermination may be based on express user input. In other embodiments,the information may be automatically populated based on the mediaguidance application monitoring to which non-linear sources the usersubscribes; the information may be updated when the media guidanceapplication detects, from the monitoring, that the user has unsubscribedfrom a non-linear service. The media guidance application may determine,from the information, a plurality of non-linear services to which theuser subscribes, where the non-linear services provide non-linearcontent over an Internet link.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application queries eachnon-linear service of the plurality of non-linear services to determinewhether each non-linear service offers a non-linear copy of the video.For example, the media guidance application may have determined, basedon the user profile, that the user subscribes to the non-linear videostreaming services Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. Thus, the media guidanceapplication may query each of those video streaming services todetermine which ones of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, if any, offer a copyof the program for streaming to the user. Alternatively, the mediaguidance application may query a database (e.g., media guidance datasource) that indicates, for each program, which non-linear servicesoffer a copy of the program for streaming to the user. The database maybe populated by ingesting catalogs for all known non-linear services andmapping an indicator to a data structure corresponding to a given mediaasset that indicates which non-linear services offer the given mediaasset.

The media guidance application may determine, in response to thequerying, that one or more of the non-linear services to which the usersubscribes does in fact offer a copy of the program for streaming to theuser. For example, the media guidance application may determine thatNetflix offers a non-linear copy of media asset 102. In response todetermining that the non-linear service offers the non-linear copy, themedia guidance application may play back the non-linear copy of thevideo from the beginning. In some embodiments, the playback may beautomatic and require no further input from the user other than aselection of restart option 106. For example, if only one recording atuser equipment 100 exists and no other services offer the media asset,the media guidance application may automatically select that recordingfor playback. As another example, the media guidance application mayselect one of a plurality of non-linear sources for use for playback ofa copy of media asset 102 if more than one offers a copy of media asset102. This selection may be at random or may be based on known userpreferences as indicated in the profile of the user.

In some embodiments, rather than generating for display restart option106 in response to the user requesting to view media asset 102, themedia guidance application may determine, using the methods describedabove, whether a non-linear service that the user subscribes to offers anon-linear copy of media asset 102. The media guidance application mayrefrain from generating for display restart option 106 unless anon-linear service to which the user subscribes does in fact offer thenon-linear copy of media asset 102, in which case the media guidanceapplication may responsively generate for display restart option 106. Inthis case, in response to receiving a user selection of restart option106, the media guidance application may generate for display thenon-linear copy of media asset 102.

In some embodiments, in order to play back the non-linear copy of thevideo from the beginning, the media guidance application may launch aplatform corresponding to the non-linear service, where the platformcorresponding to the non-linear service is different from a platformcorresponding to the linear service that is used to generate for displaythe video using the linear service. As used herein, the term “platform”is defined to mean software required to access or play back thenon-linear copy of media asset 102. For example, many non-linear serviceproviders can be accessed through a web page, or through a proprietaryapplication. The term “platform” encompasses such a web page,proprietary application, and any other software medium or servicerequired to access the non-linear copy of the media asset. Thus, if thenon-linear service that provides a non-linear copy of media asset 102 isNetflix, the media guidance application may cause user equipment 100 toautomatically launch a proprietary application offered by Netflix. Themedia guidance application may play back the non-linear copy of thevideo using the platform corresponding to the non-linear service. Themedia guidance application may launch the proprietary application in amanner such that transitioning to the proprietary application is notnoticeable by the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether playback of the non-linear copy of media asset 102 hasterminated. For example, the media guidance application may monitor foran end of playback of the non-linear copy of media asset 102 (e.g., theruntime of the non-linear copy of media asset 102 has completelyelapsed). As another example, the media guidance application may monitorfor a command from the user to terminate playback of the non-linear copyof media asset 102 (e.g., a pause or stop command). In response todetecting the end of playback of the non-linear copy of the video, or inresponse to detecting the command from the user to terminate playback ofthe non-linear copy of the video, the media guidance application maydetermine that playback of the non-linear copy of the video hasterminated.

In some embodiments, in response to determining that playback of thenon-linear copy of media asset 102 has terminated, the media guidanceapplication may exit the platform corresponding to the non-linearservice and may resume generating for display video using the platformcorresponding to the linear service. The exiting of the platformcorresponding to the non-linear service may be a seamless transitionthat is invisible to the user. Thus, the media guidance application maygenerate for display (and/or output audio relating to) a presentlytransmitted linear media asset from the linear content source that wastransmitting media asset 102.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may automaticallydetermine, while media asset 102 is being generated for display (orotherwise output) using the transmission of the linear service, andwithout receiving the command, that the non-linear service offers thenon-linear copy of the video. In other words, as described above, themedia guidance application may automatically determine whether anon-linear copy of media asset 102 is available. This may be performedresponsive to the user tuning to the linear source, or may be performedin advance (e.g., when schedule of media assets becomes known to themedia guidance application).

In some embodiments, in response to the automatic determining, the mediaguidance application may automatically pre-cache the non-linear copy ofthe video at a cache local to the user. For example, the media guidanceapplication may automatically access the non-linear service and buffermedia asset 102 at user equipment 100 so that no buffer or download timewill be experienced by the user if the user wants to restart theprogram. Thus, in response to receiving a selection of restart option106, the media guidance application may access the pre-cached non-linearcopy of media asset 102 and avoid any time loss in transitioning toplayback of the non-linear copy of media asset 102.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine, inresponse to the querying, that no non-linear service of the plurality ofnon-linear services to which the user subscribes offers the non-linearcopy of media asset 102. Thus, if the user subscribes to Netflix,Amazon, and Hulu, the media guidance application would reach thisdetermination if none of these three non-linear service providers offera non-linear copy of media asset 102. In response to determining that nonon-linear service of the plurality of non-linear services to which theuser subscribes offers the non-linear copy of media asset 102, the mediaguidance application may query a second plurality of non-linear servicesto which the user does not subscribe to determine whether any of thoseproviders offer a non-linear copy of media asset 102.

In response to determining that a non-linear service to which the userdoes not subscribe offers the second non-linear copy of the program, themedia guidance application may generate for display to the user aselectable option to subscribe to the second non-linear service. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may offer an ability toaccess a non-linear copy of media asset 102 a-la-carte from the secondnon-linear service. In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationmay require a broader subscription to the second non-linear service fromthe user before the user is enabled to access the non-linear copy ofmedia asset 102 from the second service.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application, further in responseto determining that the second non-linear service offers the secondnon-linear copy of the program, may pre-cache the second non-linear copyof the program at a cache local to the user. Pre-caching operations weredescribed in detail above, and apply equally here. In response toreceiving a selection of the selectable option to subscribe to thesecond non-linear service (or in response to receiving a selection of aselectable option to access the second non-linear copy of media asset102 a-la-carte), the media guidance application may access thepre-cached second non-linear copy of media asset 102 in order togenerate for display to the user the second non-linear copy of mediaasset 102.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay, in response to the querying, a menu (e.g., menu 108) indicatingeach non-linear service to which the user subscribes that offers thecopy of media asset 102. Menu 108 may include, for example, localnon-linear content sources as well, such as local or network recordingsor otherwise stored copies of media asset 102. The media guidanceapplication may generate for display menu 108 upon a request by the userto access menu 108. Alternatively, the media guidance application maygenerate for display menu 108 in response to receiving a user selectionof request option 106. The media guidance application may receive a userselection from menu 108 of an indication corresponding to the non-linearservice, where the playing back the non-linear copy of the video fromthe beginning comprises playing back the non-linear copy of the videofrom the beginning in response to receiving the user selection. The menumay additionally indicate non-linear services to which the user does notsubscribe that offer the copy of the non-linear program. If a userselects a non-linear service to which the user does not subscribe, themedia guidance application may responsively subscribe the user to thenon-linear service, and access the non-linear copy of media asset 102from that non-linear service for playback from the beginning. Non-linearservices that do not offer a subscription, and/or instead sell access tomedia asset 102 a-la-carte may be included in menu 108.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the non-linear service provider offers a premium version of thenon-linear copy of the video. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that media asset 102 was received in highdefinition from the linear source, but the non-linear service provideroffers, in addition to a high definition copy, a better quality 4K copyof media asset 102. As another example, the non-linear service may offerenhanced features in a premium version of media asset 102, such asdirector or editorial commentary, additional subtitles not available byway of the linear service, and the like.

In some embodiments, in response to determining that the non-linearservice provider offers the premium version, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display, during playback of the non-linearcopy of media asset 102, a selectable option for accessing the premiumversion. In response to receiving a selection of the selectable option,the media guidance application may access the premium version of mediaasset 102 and generate for display the premium version. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may automatically, andwithout selection of restart option 106, play back a premium version ofmedia asset 102 instead of the version provided by the linear service.This may be triggered upon detection of a premium version existing, ormay be triggered upon a user command to access a premium version. Facetsof the premium version (e.g., commentary, subtitles, etc) may also beretrieved and overlayed on top of the version provided by media asset102 in order to enhance media asset 102 as provided by the linearservice.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application generates fordisplay a media asset identifier (e.g., in connection with presenting aguide or listing of available media), the media guidance applicationdetermines all linear and non-linear providers that offer mediacorresponding to the media asset identifier. The media guidanceapplication may display identifiers of all linear and non-linearproviders that offer the media, or may display identifiers of only thoseproviders that offer the media to which the user subscribes. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may display only identifiersof those providers who have the content available to watch immediately(e.g., as opposed to on a schedule for release or transmission at alater time).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay a visual indicator over a media asset identifier, or over a gridguide, that indicates an amount of each media asset that has alreadyelapsed, and/or that indicates how much of a media asset is still leftto view.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application generates fordisplay media asset identifiers that identify media from a linearcontent source that was transmitted in the past. In response toreceiving a user selection of media that was transmitted in the past,the media guidance application may generate for display furtherinformation about that media, including an ability to access that media(e.g., from a linear or non-linear content provider to which the usersubscribes), or to access related media (e.g., other episodes from asame series that the media corresponds to).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application profiles the userand tracks the users activity. Thus, the media guidance application maymonitor and store information relating to a user's most watched channel.The profiled data may include both data relating to programs users haverecorded, as well as those the user actively watched while the programwas live. The profile may weight viewings differently (e.g., a recordedprogram may be weighted less than a weighting for a program viewedlive), and the media guidance application may determine that a channelis most watched if that channel has a highest weighted score. Moreover,a user may have several most watched channels, and may designated one ormore of those most watched channels as a favorite channel. The mediaguidance application may cause user equipment to automatically tune tothe favorite channel when powered on. In some embodiments, channels maybe watched less frequently over time, and thus may age out of the mostwatched channels of the user. Moreover, some most watched channels mayonly seasonally be “most watched”—that is, they may only be amost-watched channel when a favorite program is airing.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may predict that auser would enjoy a different program from the program that the user ispresently watching (e.g., based on profile information of the user). Themedia guidance application may generate for display a recommendation ofthat predicted program to the user. In response to receiving a userselection of the recommendation, the media guidance application maygenerate for display the predicted program. The prediction may change asthe user's profile changes. The recommendation may be generated fordisplay in a manner that does not obscure the program currently beingplayed back, and may be generated for display automatically or inresponse to a user request for a prediction.

In some embodiments, a small guide including one line or only a smallnumber of lines may be generated for display on top of media asset 102.The media guidance application may enable the user to use the smallguide to browse all linear past, present, and future content withoutleaving a full-screen presentation of media asset 102. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may receive a request fromthe user to display what media is currently being cached on other tunersdifferent from, e.g., a tuner being used to tune to media asset 102. Themedia guidance application responsively generates for displayidentifiers of the content, or thumbnail versions of the content itself,for the user to preview or otherwise browse without leaving thefull-screen presentation of media asset 102.

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media,applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 2-3 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 2-3 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 2-3 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 2 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 200arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 200 may include grid 202 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 204, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 206, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 202 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 208, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 210. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 210 may be provided inprogram information region 212. Region 212 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 202 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 214, recorded content listing 216, andInternet content listing 218. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 200 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings214, 216, and 218 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 202 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 202. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 220. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 220.)

Display 200 may also include video region 222, and options region 226.Video region 222 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs thatare currently available, will be available, or were available to theuser. The content of video region 222 may correspond to, or beindependent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 202. Griddisplays including a video region are sometimes referred to aspicture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalitiesare described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No.6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794,issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other mediaguidance application display screens of the embodiments describedherein.

Options region 226 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 226 may be part of display 200 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 226 may concern features related to program listings in grid 202or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.Tivo.com, from other media guidance applicationsthe user accesses, from other interactive applications the useraccesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.), and/orobtain information about the user from other sources that the mediaguidance application may access. As a result, a user can be providedwith a unified guidance application experience across the user'sdifferent user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 5 . Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 3 . Video mosaic display 300 includes selectable options 302 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 300, television listings option 304 isselected, thus providing listings 306, 308, 310, and 312 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 300 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 308 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 314 and text portion 316.Media portion 314 and/or text portion 316 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 314 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 300 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 306 islarger than listings 308, 310, and 312), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 4 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 400. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 5 .User equipment device 400 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 402. I/O path 402 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 404, which includesprocessing circuitry 406 and storage 408. Control circuitry 404 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 402. I/O path 402 may connect control circuitry 404 (andspecifically processing circuitry 406) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 404 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 406. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 404 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 408). Specifically, control circuitry 404 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 404 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 404 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 404 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 5 ). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 408 thatis part of control circuitry 404. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 408 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 5 , may be used to supplementstorage 408 or instead of storage 408.

Control circuitry 404 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 404 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 400. Circuitry 404 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 408 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 400, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 408.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 404 using user inputinterface 410. User input interface 410 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 412 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 400. For example, display 412 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 410may be integrated with or combined with display 412. Display 412 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 412 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 412 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 412.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry404. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 404.Speakers 414 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 400 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 412 may be played throughspeakers 414. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers414.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 400. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage408), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 404 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 408 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 404 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 410. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 410 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 400 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 400. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 404 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 404) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 400. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 400.Equipment device 400 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 410 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 400 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 410.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 400 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 404). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 404 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 404. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 404. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 400 of FIG. 4 can be implemented in system 500 ofFIG. 5 as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504,wireless user communications device 506, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 4 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, or awireless user communications device 506. For example, user televisionequipment 502 may, like some user computer equipment 504, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 504 may, like some television equipment 502, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 504, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 506.

In system 500, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 5 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 502, user computer equipment 504, wireless user communicationsdevice 506) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.Tivo.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 514.Namely, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, andwireless user communications device 506 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 514 via communications paths 508, 510, and 512, respectively.Communications network 514 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 508, 510, and 512 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 512 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 5 it is awireless path and paths 508 and 510 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 508, 510, and 512, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 514.

System 500 includes content source 516 and media guidance data source518 coupled to communications network 514 via communication paths 520and 522, respectively. Paths 520 and 522 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 508, 510,and 512. Communications with the content source 516 and media guidancedata source 518 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 516 and media guidance data source 518, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 516 and media guidance data source 518 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 516 and 518 withuser equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 are shown as throughcommunications network 514, in some embodiments, sources 516 and 518 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 508, 510, and 512.

Content source 516 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 516 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 516 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 516 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 518 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 518may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 518 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 518 mayprovide user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions that entice the user tokeep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one towhich the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 408, and executedby control circuitry 404 of a user equipment device 400. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 404 of user equipment device 400and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 518) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 518), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 518 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices502, 504, and 506 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 500 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 5 .

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 514.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 516 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 502 and user computer equipment 504may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 506 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 514. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 516 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 518. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and wirelessuser communications device 506. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 504 or wireless usercommunications device 506 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 504. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 514. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 4 .

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as aresult of. For example, a first action being performed in response to asecond action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to a second action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for enabling auser to restart a video provided by a linear service by playing back acopy of the video from a non-linear service to which the usersubscribes, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.Process 600 may be executed by control circuitry 404 (e.g., in a mannerinstructed to control circuitry 404 by the media guidance application).Control circuitry 404 may be part of user equipment (e.g., userequipment 100, which may have any or all of the functionality of usertelevision equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and/or wirelesscommunications device 506), or of a remote server separated from theuser equipment by way of communications network 514.

Process 600 begins at 602, where control circuitry 404 receives arequest from a user to access a video (or any media asset 102) that isscheduled for transmission, simultaneously to a plurality of users,beginning from a scheduled start time, where the request is receivedafter the scheduled start time, and where the transmission is performedby a linear service to which the user subscribes. The request may bereceived by way of user input interface 410. The linear service may bemedia content source 516, and may transmit the video over communicationsnetwork 514.

At 604, control circuitry 404, in response to receiving the request,generates for display (e.g., on display 412), based on the transmission,the video to the user. At 606, control circuitry 404 receives, duringdisplay of the video, a command from the user to start playback of thevideo over from the beginning. The command may be received by way ofuser input interface 410. At 608, control circuitry 404 retrievesinformation of a profile of the user. The information may be retrievedfrom media guidance data source 518 and/or storage 508.

At 610, control circuitry 404 determines from the information aplurality of non-linear services to which the user subscribes thatprovide non-linear content over an Internet link. The non-linearservices may each correspond to a database with the functionality ofmedia content source 516 that houses copies of media assets. At 612,control circuitry 404 queries each non-linear service of the pluralityof non-linear services (or queries a database comprising data structuresthat indicate, for each media asset, which non-linear services provide acopy of the media asset, as described above) to determine whether eachnon-linear service offers a non-linear copy of the video. For example,control circuitry 404 queries databases with the functionality of mediaguidance data source 518 that each correspond to the non-linearservices.

At 614, control circuitry 404 determines, in response to the querying,that a non-linear service of the plurality of non-linear services offersthe non-linear copy of the video (e.g., media asset 102). At 616, inresponse to determining that the non-linear service offers thenon-linear copy, control circuitry 404 plays back the non-linear copy ofthe video from the beginning.

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for launching aplatform to play back a non-linear copy of the program, and exiting theprogram when playback of the non-linear copy of the video is terminated,in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 700begins at 702, where the media guidance application launches a platformcorresponding to the non-linear service, wherein the platformcorresponding to the non-linear service is different from a platformcorresponding to the linear service that is used to generate for displaythe video using the linear service.

At 704, control circuitry 404 plays back the non-linear copy of thevideo using the platform corresponding to the non-linear service (e.g.,and displays the copy on display 412). At 706, control circuitrymonitors for an end of playback of the non-linear copy of the video, orfor a command from the user to terminate playback of the non-linear copyof the video. The command from the user may be input by way of userinput interface 410.

At 708, control circuitry 404 determines whether either the end ofplayback of the non-linear copy of the video, or a command from the userto terminate playback of the non-linear copy of the video, has beendetected. If neither is detected, process 700 reverts to 704. If eitheris detected, process 700 continues to 710, where control circuitry 404causes the platform corresponding to the non-linear service to beexited. Control circuitry 404 resumes generating for display video usingthe platform corresponding to the linear service (e.g., from mediacontent source 516).

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for accessing apre-cached copy of the video when a restart command is received, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 800 beginsat 802, where control circuitry 404 automatically determines, while thevideo is being generated for display using the transmission of thelinear service, and without receiving the command, that the non-linearservice offers the non-linear copy of the video (e.g., by querying adatabase corresponding to media guidance data source 518 that isassociated with the non-linear service).

At 804, in response to the automatic determining, control circuitry 404automatically pre-caches the non-linear copy of the video at a cachelocal to the user (e.g., at memory 408). At 806, control circuitry 404monitors for a receipt of a restart command (e.g., a user selection ofrestart option 106 by way of user input interface 410). At 808, controlcircuitry 404 determines whether the restart command has been detected;if it has not, process 800 reverts to 806 and control circuitry 404continues to monitor, otherwise process 800 continues to 810. At 810,control circuitry 404 accesses the pre-cached non-linear copy of thevideo.

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for restarting avideo transmitted by a linear source when the linear source does notoffer a restart mechanism, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. Process 900 begins at 902, where control circuitry 404receives a request from a user to access a video (e.g., media asset 102)that is scheduled for transmission (e.g., from media content source 516by way of communications network 414), simultaneously to a plurality ofusers, beginning from a scheduled start time, where the request isreceived after the scheduled start time, and where the transmission isperformed by a linear service (e.g., media content source 516) to whichthe user subscribes.

At 904, in response to receiving the request, control circuitry 404generates for display (e.g., by way of display 412), based on thetransmission, the video to the user. At 906, control circuitry 404receives, during display of the video, a command from the user to startplayback of the video over from the beginning (e.g., by way of userinput interface 410 being used to select restart command 106). At 908,control circuitry 404 identifies a non-linear service to which the usersubscribes, different from the linear service, that provides non-linearcontent over an Internet link, and that offers a non-linear copy of thevideo. At 910, control circuitry 404 plays back the non-linear copy ofthe video from the beginning.

It should be noted that processes 600-900 or any step thereof could beperformed on, or provided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS. 1 and4-5 . For example, any of processes 600-900 may be executed by controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4 ) as instructed by control circuitry implementedon user equipment 502, 504, 506 (FIG. 5 ), and/or a user equipment forselecting a recommendation. In addition, one or more steps of processes600-900 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more steps ofany other process or embodiment.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of each of FIGS. 6-9may be used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition,the steps and descriptions described in relation to FIGS. 6-8 may bedone in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes ofthis disclosure. For example, each of these steps may be performed inany order or in parallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lagor increase the speed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should benoted that any of the devices or equipment discussed in relation toFIGS. 1 and 4-5 could be used to perform one or more of the steps inFIGS. 6-9 .

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methodsinvolved in the present invention may be embodied in a computer programproduct that includes a computer-usable and/or readable medium. Forexample, such a computer-usable medium may consist of a read-only memorydevice, such as a CD-ROM disk or conventional ROM device, or a randomaccess memory, such as a hard drive device or a computer diskette,having a computer-readable program code stored thereon. It should alsobe understood that methods, techniques, and processes involved in thepresent disclosure may be executed using processing circuitry. Forinstance, determining where restart option 106 is selected may beperformed, e.g., by processing circuitry 406 of FIG. 4 . The processingcircuitry, for instance, may be a general purpose processor, acustomized integrated circuit (e.g., an ASIC), or a field-programmablegate array (FPGA) within user equipment 400, media content source 516,or media guidance data source 518. For example, a profile, as describedherein, may be stored in, and retrieved from, storage 408 of FIG. 4 , ormedia guidance data source 518 of FIG. 5 . Furthermore, processingcircuitry, or a computer program, may update settings of the profile,such as subscription settings, stored within storage 408 of FIG. 4 ormedia guidance data source 518 of FIG. 5 .

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and notlimiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of theprocesses discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/orrearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departingfrom the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure ismeant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that follow aremeant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes.Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitationsdescribed in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodimentherein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may becombined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done indifferent orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems andmethods described herein may be performed in real time. It should alsobe noted, the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to,or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

While some portions of this disclosure may make reference to“convention” or “related art,” any such reference is merely for thepurpose of providing context to the invention(s) of the instantdisclosure, and does not form any admission as to what constitutes thestate of the art.

1.-51. (canceled)
 52. A method comprising: launching a platformcorresponding to a non-linear service, wherein the platformcorresponding to the non-linear service is different from a platformcorresponding to a linear service that is used to generate for display amedia asset using the linear service; generating for display anon-linear version of the media asset using the platform correspondingto the non-linear service; monitoring for an end of the display of thenon-linear version of the media asset, or a command from a userinterface to terminate the display of the non-linear version of themedia asset; and in response to the end of the display of the non-linearversion of the media asset, or the command from the user interface toterminate the display of the non-linear version of the media asset,exiting the platform corresponding to the non-linear service andactivating the platform corresponding to the linear service.
 53. Themethod of claim 52, comprising, in response to neither the end of thedisplay of the non-linear version of the media asset, nor the commandfrom the user interface to terminate the display of the non-linearversion of the media asset, continuing the generating for display thenon-linear version of the media asset using the platform correspondingto the non-linear service.
 54. The method of claim 52, wherein the endof the display of the non-linear version of the media asset includesdetecting that a runtime of the non-linear version of the media assethas elapsed.
 55. The method of claim 52, wherein the command is a pausecommand or a stop command.
 56. The method of claim 52, comprisingdetermining that a highest resolution version of the media assetavailable from the non-linear service is greater than a highestresolution version of the media asset available from the linear service.57. The method of claim 56, wherein the launching is responsive to thedetermining, and wherein the method comprises generating for display anoption selectable via a user interface for displaying the highestresolution version.
 58. The method of claim 52, comprising determiningthat a premium version of the media asset is available from thenon-linear service and that the premium version of the media asset isnot available from the linear service.
 59. The method of claim 58,wherein the launching is responsive to the determining.
 60. The methodof claim 59, comprising generating for display an option selectable viaa user interface for displaying the premium version.
 61. The method ofclaim 52, wherein the non-linear service is a streaming service, andwherein the linear service is a broadcast television service.
 62. Asystem comprising: circuitry configured to: launch a platformcorresponding to a non-linear service, wherein the platformcorresponding to the non-linear service is different from a platformcorresponding to a linear service that is used to generate for display amedia asset using the linear service; generate for display a non-linearversion of the media asset using the platform corresponding to thenon-linear service; monitor for an end of the display of the non-linearversion of the media asset, or a command from a user interface toterminate the display of the non-linear version of the media asset; andin response to the end of the display of the non-linear version of themedia asset, or the command from the user interface to terminate thedisplay of the non-linear version of the media asset, exit the platformcorresponding to the non-linear service and activating the platformcorresponding to the linear service.
 63. The system of claim 62, whereinthe circuitry is configured to, in response to neither the end of thedisplay of the non-linear version of the media asset, nor the commandfrom the user interface to terminate the display of the non-linearversion of the media asset, continue the generating for display thenon-linear version of the media asset using the platform correspondingto the non-linear service.
 64. The system of claim 62, wherein the endof the display of the non-linear version of the media asset includesdetecting that a runtime of the non-linear version of the media assethas elapsed.
 65. The system of claim 62, wherein the command is a pausecommand or a stop command.
 66. The system of claim 62, wherein thecircuitry is configured to determine that a highest resolution versionof the media asset available from the non-linear service is greater thana highest resolution version of the media asset available from thelinear service.
 67. The system of claim 66, wherein the launching isresponsive to the determining, and wherein the circuitry is configuredto generate for display an option selectable via a user interface fordisplaying the highest resolution version.
 68. The system of claim 62,wherein the circuitry is configured to determine that a premium versionof the media asset is available from the non-linear service and that thepremium version of the media asset is not available from the linearservice.
 69. The system of claim 68, wherein the launching is responsiveto the determining.
 70. The system of claim 69, wherein the circuitry isconfigured to generate for display an option selectable via a userinterface for displaying the premium version.
 71. The system of claim62, wherein the non-linear service is a streaming service, and whereinthe linear service is a broadcast television service.